The sight of these syringes filled with the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine might be scary to those with needle phobia, but there are methods to help manage the fear. TNS
While most of us don’t love needles, it’s estimated that at least 10% of the population has a needle phobia that prevents them from seeking out essential medical care.
It’s a concern for health experts, looking out for both the health of their patients and the future of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From a public health standpoint, we don’t have a good number on how many adults are delaying or refusing the vaccine based on blood-injection-injury phobia, but it could be as high as 10%, and 10-ish percent is going to keep us from achieving herd immunity,” says Dr Katherine K. Dahlsgaard, a licensed psychologist board certified in behavioural and cognitive psychology.
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Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech blasted President Joe Biden’s first joint address to Congress Wednesday night as a “complete tissue of lies” Republicans rejected that will be quickly forgotten.
“It’s not something that actually led to any kind of bipartisanship,” Domenech said. “It’s going to be a political blip immediately forgotten. It is not going to change the course of anything in Washington, which is now a mono-partisan affair under Joe Biden.”
Biden’s hour-long address Wednesday highlighted the administration’s pursuit of an aggressive, partisan agenda. In it, the president pledged radical expansion of the welfare state and demanded new restrictions on gun rights, lying about statistics on crime in the process.
Primary-care practitioners lean toward potentially excessive care, study shows
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Primary-care practitioners tend to overestimate the risk of common conditions based on symptoms and test results, leading to potentially excessive and harmful care, a new study shows.
Residents, attending physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants estimated a 70% likelihood of cardiac ischemia in patients who had a positive stress test when the actual likelihood is 2% to 11%, researcher s analysis of 533 practitioners found. Survey respondents also estimated a 50% risk of breast cancer after a positive finding on a mammogram when evidence shows only a 3% to 9% risk.
There was a similar trend in urinary tract infection diagnoses, with practitioners projecting an 80% likelihood of a UTI after a positive urine culture when the real risk is at most 8%, according to the study published in JAMA.